Philips and Right at Home to launchconnected sensors platform for seniors

Philips announced the commercial beta launch of remote care services powered by the new CareSensus connected sensors platform in partnership with Right at Home, one of the largest in-home senior care franchise networks in the world. Together, Philips and Right at Home are redefining the home care landscape by offering a flexible and affordable blend of in-home and remote care options to proactively help seniors with cognitive and/or physical frailties who want to age in place safely. Fueled by connected sensors and powerful data analytics, this unique “blended care” high-touch, high-tech approach offers insights and adapts to a senior’s particular needs to provide “always-on” home care and peace of mind to caregivers who are not close by.
  
With its unique home care monitoring solution, the Philips CareSensus platform is bringing the benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT) into the homes of seniors. It consists of connected, discrete, non-camera-based passive sensors placed strategically in the home to provide 24/7 monitoring of seniors. The data from the connected sensors is processed to identify unusual patterns of activities enabling a personalized blueprint of behavior, and delivering timely data to the Right at Home remote care team. If the senior is getting up multiple times during the night to use the bathroom, or they are taking an unusually long time to get out of bed in the morning, these can be early indicators that something may be wrong.

Supported by the powerful analytics of the CareSensus platform, the Right at Home remote care team is able to see behavioral changes via an intuitive online dashboard with several views, and potentially intervene earlier during a health deterioration or before a more serious event occurs. The family caregiver is also given access to the dashboard so they can review periodically to see how their loved one is doing. For instance, during a recent pilot, one patient began frequenting the bathroom more often than usual. The care team alerted the client’s daughter who made a doctor appointment, where they discovered the client was suffering from symptoms of a significant health problem that could have worsened without early intervention.

“Philips has over 40 years of experience in delivering innovative technology to support care for seniors and caregivers,” said Jeroen Tas, CEO, Connected Care and Health Informatics at Philips. “Combined with our deep knowledge of advanced analytics in patient and home monitoring, we can now offer a powerful platform delivering reliable data to the Right at Home care team. Philips’ proprietary connected sensors platform allows the senior’s Right at Home care team to proactively help keep them as healthy and secure as possible to better enable the delivery of tailored, expert care whenever and wherever it’s needed.”

“By 2025, there will be nearly 1.2 billion people over the age of 60 worldwide,” said Brian Petranick, CEO and President of Right at Home. “This aging shift will continue to increase demand for Right at Home’s care services and will add increasing pressure on an industry already challenged with the supply for caregivers. As the need for caregivers across the globe exceeds supply, this partnership with Philips and the use of its innovative technology will help supplement the growing demand for in-home care and improve the well-being of our clients in a revolutionary way. This blended care approach will drive the future of home healthcare.”

A press release can be found from Philips website by clicking here.

Roche launches PT/INR bluetooth self-testing device for anticoagulated patients

Roche announced that it has launched the CoaguChek® INRange system in countries accepting the CE Mark. The CoaguChek INRange system is the first Bluetooth enabled PT/INR home health device that helps patients and their healthcare providers (HCPs) have greater control over their coagulation status and the ability to monitor Vitamin K Antagonist (VKA) therapy. Patient self-testing with CoaguChek INRange sets a new standard of care by enabling HCPs to monitor patient PT/INR data, while reducing visits to the lab.


Frequent self-testing offers both clinical and patient benefit as it has been proven that patients that adhere to their monitoring therapy spend more time in their therapeutic range, which results in lower incidence of stroke1 or bleeding.2 It has been demonstrated that 50–60% of patients can be expected to remain in their target range if monitoring of INR occurs monthly, 77–85% if monitored weekly and up to 92% if monitored every three days.3 Patients who spend a high proportion of time (> 70%) in the therapeutic range achieve better clinical outcomes.4,5

Evidence suggests that patients who have a strong link with their healthcare professional adhere better to their anticoagulant therapy plan.3 The CoaguChek INRange system helps enhance the relationship between patients and their healthcare providers. Patients build a deeper understanding of their PT/INR results through frequent self-testing and physicians are more confident that they can optimise treatment decisions effectively as they have access to patient data in near real-time.

“As healthcare systems face continued pressure to deliver improved access to care at a lower cost, increased connectivity between HCPs and patients becomes even more important,” said Roland Diggelmann, COO, Roche Diagnostics. “This innovative technology continues the CoaguChek legacy of setting the standard in coagulation monitoring by providing high quality, convenient care, while optimising outcomes for patients. This is another proof point towards our aim to position patient self-testing as the standard of care to monitor VKA therapy.”

Usual care or management of patients on VKA therapy includes frequent visits to the hospital or general practitioner for PT/INR testing with a venipuncture and waiting up to 2-3 days for the lab results. The CoaguChek INRange system engages patients in their care with a simple fingerstick and 60-second test, giving patients the independence to continue their normal daily activities and quality of life while maintaining connections with their HCPs.

"In a clinical environment, we need to establish a model of care that empowers patients, helping them to understand their health condition and allowing them to take responsibility of their own health care needs,” stated Juan Carlos Souto, renowned Physician at the Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona, Spain and author of over 400 scientific articles and communications. “The new technology will enable us to access the test results in the clinic’s database, to keep track of the individual patient’s status and to measure the quality of care provided by our clinic."

A press release can be found from Roche website by following this link.

POC osteoporosis diagnosis instrument also available in USA

Bone Index Ltd. has received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Bindex® point-of-care instrument to help in osteoporosis diagnosis.

 

Osteoporosis, a very underdiagnosed disease, is responsible for two million broken bones every year in the USA. These fractures translate into costs totaling about 19 billion dollars. Experts forecast that by 2025, the costs due to fractures will rise to 25.3 billion dollars. Currently, one of the biggest challenges in osteoporosis management is the low availability of diagnostics since bone density scans are mostly performed in hospitals with large DXA X-ray machines that entail high costs.

Bindex® measures the cortical bone thickness of the tibia and the algorithm calculates the Density Index, a parameter which estimates bone mineral density at the hip as measured with DXA. Bindex detects osteoporosis with 90% sensitivity and specificity and will significantly help physicians with diagnosis.

"The clearance process with the FDA was straightforward despite the novel approach introduced with Bindex. The technique is based on extensive clinical evidence, and with the effectiveness of Bindex, the current care of osteoporosis can be significantly improved," says Bone Index's CTO, Dr. Janne Karjalainen.

"A recently published article* in Osteoporosis International presents an approach to how the international fracture risk calculator (FRAX®) and the Bindex® test can be used together in identifying patients in need of medication. This is extremely important because an estimated 75% of osteoporosis sufferers are undiagnosed and without the treatment they need," says Professor Heikki Kröger, MD. The clinical validation for Bindex® has been conducted with a total of over 2,000 patients.

"Bindex technology is unique in the world. The device is pocket-sized, reliable and enables new and cost-effective diagnostic pathways for osteoporosis," says Bone Index's CEO, Dr. Ossi Riekkinen.

A press release can be found from Bone Index website by following this link.

Medtronic and Qualcomm collaborate develop continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems

Medtronic and Qualcomm through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Life, Inc., announced a global, multi-year collaboration to jointly develop future generation continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems that aim to improve health outcomes for people with diabetes. By giving insights to doctors and people with type 2 diabetes concerning glucose levels, the companies intend to enable more informed care, especially for those who do not have control of their diabetes today. The collaboration seeks to leverage Medtronic's market-leadership in diabetes management and Qualcomm Life's expertise in developing reference designs for wireless, single-use and small integrated modules to create more affordable, easier-to-use CGM systems, including a new sensor and smaller design that can provide near real-time and retrospective glucose data.

The initial focus of the collaboration will be to develop a single-use CGM system designed for broader practice by general practitioners who manage care for the vast majority of the 400 million people worldwide with type 2 diabetes. This collaboration supports Medtronic's strategy to develop comprehensive CGM solutions that not only measure glucose but enable the delivery of actionable insights to both patients and providers.

Leveraging Qualcomm Life's deep wireless expertise and technologies, 2net(TM) Design is a platform for designing the communications components of connected medical devices, including disposable drug delivery devices and disposable diagnostic devices for condition specific connected therapies.

"We believe that glucose should be a vital sign of diabetes health. Professional CGM is an increasingly used diagnostic tool that empowers physicians and patients with meaningful glucose data to tackle glucose control. Our solutions go beyond delivering data and provide automated observations and clinical decision support to help create a personalized care plan," said Laura Stoltenberg, vice president and general manager, Non-Intensive Diabetes Therapies at Medtronic. "Our vision is to transform diabetes care so people with diabetes can enjoy greater freedom and better health. We are thrilled to be collaborating with Qualcomm Life - a best-in-class leader in wireless technologies that is ahead of the curve in a rapidly changing connected world - to develop innovative and affordable CGM systems that will fundamentally change type 2 diabetes management."

"Qualcomm Life's connected health expertise along with our enabling 2net Connectivity Platform and 2net Design capabilities fit naturally with Medtronic's diabetes leadership in bringing future generation CGM systems to market," said Rick Valencia, president and general manager, Qualcomm Life, Inc. "This collaboration furthers our commitment of enabling new connected care models that liberate vital data and unlock insights to deliver intelligent care wherever the patient may be."

Advanced CGM solutions are a critical element of an integrated care model. By building an ecosystem of industry leading partners, Medtronic aims to deliver more than just devices and provide intelligent solutions that improve outcomes, while lowering the overall cost of care.

CFDA releases 2015 Annual Report of National Medical Device Adverse Event Monitoring

China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) recently released the 2015 Annual Report for National Medical Device Adverse Event Monitoring, which includes the general situation of medical device adverse event reporting, the statistical analysis of medical device adverse events, and the control measures for the safety risks of medical X-ray angiography equipment, external defibrillator and low frequency electromagnetic therapy equipment. The report reflects comprehensively the performance of China’s medical device adverse event monitoring in 2015.

The report (in Chinese language) can be downloaded by following this link.

Engineers are developing knee listening device

Research engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing a knee band with microphones and vibration sensors to listen to and measure the sounds inside the joint.

It could lead to a future device to help orthopedic specialists assess damage after an injury and track the progress of recovery.


Omer Inan has suffered knee pain himself and had been thinking about developing such a device for some time. The assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering is a former discus thrower who was a three-time NCAA All-American at Stanford University and the school record holder.

He spent years whirling around like a tornado, which knees aren’t built for. Add to that the stress and strain of weight training that included squats with 500-pound loads.

“I would always feel like my knee was creaking or popping more if I was putting more stress on it,” Inan said.

Then the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) issued a call for research proposals on wearable technologies for assisting rehabilitation, and the researcher at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering pitched his idea.

Inan’s group has published a paper on the latest state of development in the journal IEEE Transactions in Biomedical Engineering online, official print publication is pending. The research is being sponsored by the DARPA Biological Technologies Office. Inan leads a team of 17 researchers, including Georgia Tech faculty in ECE and Applied Physiology and graduate students.

The researchers combined microphones with piezoelectric film. The film is a hypersensitive vibration sensor and collects the best sound, but it is very sensitive to interference. The microphones placed against the skin make for an ample backup and for a more practical device.

The knee monitor also takes advantage of a technical advancement you will find in your smart phone. Micro-electromechanical systems microphones, or MEMS, integrate better with current technology than microphones based on previous technologies, and that also makes the microphones downright cheap – 50 cents to a dollar – for a very affordable device.

More information can be found from Georgia Institute of Technology website by following this link.

BD Expands its Portfolio of Easy-to-Use Cell Sorters

BD continues to reinforce its commitment to making flow cytometry easier and more affordable with the introduction of its newest cell sorter, the BD FACSMelody system. Built for benchtop use, the new BD FACSMelody sorter is easy to learn, install and use and provides excellent sensitivity, resolution and sort purity. The simplicity of the BD FACSMelody follows in the footsteps of other newly launched BD flow cytometers such as the BD Accuri C6 Plus and BD FACSCelesta systems.

The BD FACSMelody cell sorter features high sensitivity to identify and isolate target cells for up to nine colors, extending the multicolor capability compared to similar cell sorters that is essential for identification of dim or rare subpopulations. The new BD FACSChorus software guides researchers throughout the entire cell sorting process using advanced automation technology. This cell sorting technology allows researchers to simultaneously isolate two cell populations into separate tubes or deposit single or multiple target cells into 96- or 384-well plates. The BD FACSMelody system enables researchers at multiple skill levels to achieve high-purity sorting.

"As a leader in cell analysis and sorting, BD's goal is to advance scientific discovery by providing expedient, high-performance cell isolation and sorting tools to a wide spectrum of researchers," said Claude Dartiguelongue, worldwide president of Biosciences for BD. "The BD FACSMelody system not only simplifies the entire operational process, but also has been designed to maximize cell population resolution and sort purity."

The BD FACSMelody cell sorting system is offered in six different configurations to best meet application needs ranging from a molecular biology lab isolating transfected cells with a single-color reporter gene to an immunology lab sorting a rare lymphocyte subset with a nine-color reagent panel. The system includes a gel-coupled cuvette, which eliminates optical fluidic alignment, provides excellent sensitivity and resolution, and is uniquely designed to leverage the broad BD Horizon Brilliant™ reagent portfolio. The BD FACSChorus software precisely regulates the sorting of droplets and steering of sorted cells into collection devices.

FDA approves mobile connected ultrasound device for urology

Signostics announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for Uscan, the first smart mobile-connected ultrasound visualization device targeted at urologic care.



Using algorithms from the science of computer vision, Uscan actively recognizes the 3D contours of the bladder, for far more accurate volume measurements than the industry standard* even on obese and other hard-to-scan patients. It acquires up to 256 bladder slices – 32 times more than conventional bladder scanners – resulting in industry-leading accuracy. It also provides real-time ultrasound imaging of the kidneys, pelvic floor, prostate, gallbladder, bladder stones, and catheter emplacement, for quick and easy visual tracking and observation.

“Uscan doesn’t just scan; it sees – providing intelligent urologic visualization by leveraging science from current-day computer vision algorithms aimed at more efficient and confident point-of-care clinical decision-making,” said Kevin Goodwin, CEO. “Uscan will exceed historical industry standards for bladder volume measurement accuracy yet will also enable use for other urologic imaging needs, reducing the delays and expense of engaging specialized ultrasound equipment or sonographers.”

Uscan also offers integrated middleware not found in any comparably priced systems; and can be used in a range of clinical settings beyond urology, including the emergency department, maternity, pediatrics, oncology, rehabilitation, aged care and home nursing. The system’s removable probe, high-resolution touch screen tablet and handheld displays make it ideally suited for on-the-go clinical care.

It is compatible with Android operating systems, and has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity that enables fast and reliable image management and interoperability with electronic health record (EHR) systems.

Uscan also offers the industry’s lowest cost of ownership in this market space, coming with a designed- in 5-year product warranty, with a “no fine print” pledge and requires no annual calibration. It is simple to learn and use, and provides real-time user guidance, eliminating the need for extensive training.

A press release can be found from Signostics website by clicking this link.

Flexible, wearable, tricorder-like EKG sensor

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed the first flexible wearable device capable of monitoring both biochemical and electric signals in the human body. The Chem-Phys patch records electrocardiogram (EKG) heart signals and tracks levels of lactate, a biochemical that is a marker of physical effort, in real time. The device can be worn on the chest and communicates wirelessly with a smartphone, smart watch or laptop. It could have a wide range of applications, from athletes monitoring their workouts to physicians monitoring patients with heart disease.



Nanoengineers and electrical engineers at the UC San Diego Center for Wearable Sensors worked together to build the device, which includes a flexible suite of sensors and a small electronic board. The device also can transmit the data from biochemical and electrical signals via Bluetooth.

Nanoengineering professor Joseph Wang and electrical engineering professor Patrick Mercier at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering led the project, with Wang's team working on the patch's sensors and chemistry, while Mercier's team worked on the electronics and data transmission. They describe the Chem-Phys patch in the May 23 issue of Nature Communications.

"One of the overarching goals of our research is to build a wearable tricorder-like device that can measure simultaneously a whole suite of chemical, physical and electrophysiological signals continuously throughout the day," Mercier said. "This research represents an important first step to show this may be possible."

Most commercial wearables only measure one signal, such as steps or heart rate, Mercier said. Almost none of them measure chemical signals, such as lactate.

That is the gap that the sensor designed by researchers at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego aims to bridge. Combining information about heart rate and lactate--a first in the field of wearable sensors--could be especially useful for athletes wanting to improve their performance. Both Mercier and Wang have been fielding inquiries from Olympic athletes about the technologies the Center for Wearable Sensors produces.

"The ability to sense both EKG and lactate in a small wearable sensor could provide benefits in a variety of areas," explained Dr. Kevin Patrick, a physician and director of the Center for Wireless and Population Health Systems at UC San Diego, who was not involved with the research. "There would certainly be interest in the sports medicine community about how this type of sensing could help optimize training regimens for elite athletes," added Patrick, who is also a member of the Center for Wearable Sensors. "The ability to concurrently assess EKG and lactate could also open up some interesting possibilities in preventing and/or managing individuals with cardiovascular disease."

The researchers' biggest challenge was making sure that signals from the two sensors didn't interfere with each other. This required some careful engineering and a fair bit of experimentation before finding the right configuration for the sensors.

A press relaease can be found by following this link.

Researchers build a better bionic hand

Researchers at Simon Fraser University are working with paralympic skier Danny Letain to design a new control system for one of the world’s most advanced bionic hands, promising a more intuitive experience for upper limb amputees.

Letain, a former locomotive engineer, lost his left arm below the elbow 35 years ago. He has since used a body-powered prosthesis with a pincer-like split hook that uses a series of straps to mechanically maneuver the artificial limb.



“The hook is durable and quick to respond, but controlling it with straps is not natural,” says Letain. Yet with the SFU team’s new control system, Letain already has a variety of different grip patterns that he says work “well beyond” what he could achieve with prosthetic devices.

Letain adds: “With this new system, it feels like I’m opening and closing my hand. The most exciting moment for me was feeling my left index finger and the little finger for the first time since my accident. With the hook you don’t use those muscles at all. This system puts my mind to work in a whole new way.”

The technology was developed in engineering science professor Carlo Menon’s biomedical engineering lab initially to rehabilitate stroke patients. He immediately saw the potential for wider applications, however, including for amputees.

Menon says there is a high rejection rate among those with existing robotic prostheses because they are not intuitive.

“The problem is in the control systems, which have not significantly advanced in 50 years,” he says. “As a result, the robotic prostheses are not very useful for performing everyday tasks, and only about a quarter of amputees use them.”

The SFU team, known as M.A.S.S. Impact (Muscle Activity Sensor Strip), is applying its technology to a robotic arm on loan from Steeper Prosthetics, a company in Leeds, England. The SFU team has been working with Letain and staff at Vancouver’s Barber Prosthetics since June 2015.

The new system consists of an armband of pressure sensors embedded in the prosthetic socket. These track movements in Letain’s remaining muscles as he performs intuitive actions, such as grasping a bottle. Computer algorithms then map the sensor data to decode his intentions and move the prosthesis.

Full story can be found from Simon Fraser University website.

Massachusetts General Hospital developed device for rapid diagnosis of bacterial infections

A team of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators has developed a device with the potential of shortening the time required to rapidly diagnose pathogens responsible for health-care-associated infections from a couple of days to a matter of hours. The system described in the journal Science Advances also would allow point-of-care diagnosis, as it does not require the facilities and expertise available only in hospital laboratories.

“Health-care-associated infections are a major problem that affects more than 600,000 patients each year, more than 10 percent of whom will die, and incurs more $100 billion in related costs,” says Ralph Weissleder, MD, PhD, director of the MGH Center for Systems Biology, Thrall Family Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and co-senior author of the report. “Rapid and efficient diagnosis of the pathogen is a critical first step in choosing the appropriate antibiotic regimen, and this system could provide that information in a physician’s office in less than two hours.”

While considered the gold standard for diagnosing bacterial infections, traditional culture-based diagnosis can take several days and requires specialized equipment, trained laboratory personnel and procedures that vary depending on the particular pathogen. Emerging genetic approaches that identify bacterial species by their nucleic acid sequences are powerful but still require complex equipment and workflows, restricting such testing to specialized hospital laboratories.



The system developed by the MGH team, dubbed PAD for Polarization Anisotropy Diagnostics, allows for accurate genetic testing in a simple device. Bacterial RNA is extracted from a sample in a small, disposable plastic cartridge. Following polymerase chain reaction amplification of the RNA, the material is loaded into a 2-cm plastic cube containing optical components that detect target RNAs based on the response to a light signal of sequence-specific detection probes. These optical cubes are placed on an electronic base station that transmits data to a smartphone or computer where the results can be displayed.

More details can be found from MGH website by clicking here.

FDA Approves MR Conditional Tachycardia Devices from Biotronik

Biotronik announced Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Iperia ProMRI HF-T, a cardiac resynchronization defibrillator that provides heart failure patients with access to diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Iperia devices also have remote monitoring with daily automatic transmission and closed loop stimulation (CLS) that adapts the heart rate in response to physiological demands.

Iperia HF-T was developed with BIOTRONIK’s ProMRI, Home Monitoring, and CLS technology, creating an advanced cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) designed to support each patient’s unique healthcare journey. BIOTRONIK’s MR conditional tachycardia devices ensure patients have access to 1.5T scans without an exclusion zone. Home Monitoring provides automatic daily transmission of data relating to arrhythmic events and heart failure statistics, which have been shown to reduce all-cause mortality by more than 50 percent. For heart failure patients, early detection of deterioration reduces patient mortality.

“The FDA approval of Iperia HF-T demonstrates the shift that is happening in cardiovascular patient care,” said Marlou Janssen, President, BIOTRONIK, Inc. “BIOTRONIK now offers a comprehensive portfolio of MR conditional ICDs. We’re driving the standard of care to new levels by providing physicians and hospitals with innovative, reliable, cardiac devices that ensure patients have access to imaging technology critical to diagnosing and treating future illness and injury. This is technology that is making a difference in patients’ lives.”

A press release can be found by following this link.

Tailor-Made Radiation Therapy in Cancer Treatment

Radiation therapy is one of the most essential elements in cancer treatment. But properly planning radiation therapy is a highly complex task. Fraunhofer mathematicians have joined an alliance with medical physicists and physicians to improve the therapy planning process. In doing so they have helped improve patient‘s chances of recovery.


Professor Karl-Heinz Küfer was amazed when he saw for the first time how radiation therapy for cancer patients was planned: »The processes physicians and physicists used in jointly planning radiation therapy reminded me of looking for objects in a dark room, groping around and then trying again,« recalls Küfer, a mathematician at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He recognizedthe potential for improvement and got together with physicians, physicists and information scientists to develop an alternative solution. The result was an interactive and easy-to-operate software product. It shortens the duration of radiation therapy planning, makes finding a good balance between therapy potentials and possible side-effects easier and ultimately increases the patient‘s chances of recovery.Every year in Germany approximately 483,000 people are diagnosed with cancer, with 222,000 cases ending fatally. This makes cancer Germany‘s second most common cause of death. Radiation therapy is used to treat more than half the cases. The radiation used damages cell DNA and thus inhibits their cell division or results directly in the death of the cell.

The objective of the therapy is to kill tumor cells while protecting healthy tissue. In the past the physician formulated his wishes and the radiation physicist turned these demands into a therapy plan. If the physician wasn‘t satisfied with the results, the physicist did follow-up work. Gradually the optimum solution was found. »The new thing about the mathematical approach is that from the very beginning a variety of solutions is calculated; the physician can then choose the best solution for the patient,« explains Professor Jürgen Debus, radio-oncologist at Heidelberg University Hospital, who tested the developed software in clinical use. In order to improve the process, Fraunhoferresearchers Karl-Heinz Küfer, Dr. Michael Bortz, Dr. Alexander Scherrer, Dr. Philipp Süss and Dr. Katrin Teichert considered therapy planning as a multi-criterion optimization task, in this case a balanced compromise involving around ten to fifteen in part contradictory planning goals. »The principle of the Pareto solution is a better concept here than the previous trial-and-error strategy,« Karl-Heinz Küfer emphasizes. Such a solution which cannot be improved in terms of all criteria simultaneously. When one criterion improves, another criterion has to worsen in compensation. In the case of radiation therapy this means that if the tumor is to receive a higher dose of radioactivity, the surrounding tissue will be damaged more severely.

The software was developed under the leadership of the ITWM together with the German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg University Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in a Harvard Medical School researchpartnership. »With the new planning system the tumor can be better brought under control, since we can irradiate the tumor with a higher dose. This means the probability of permanently eradicating the tumor is also higher, and at the same time we can protect normal tissue which we might not have been able to protect at all inthe past,« remarks Professor Thomas Bortfeld, who in 2011 put the multi-criterion optimization approach to clinical use at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for the first time, together with RaySearch Laboratories.

With additional licensing through world market leader Varian Medical Systems startingin 2016, the technology will in the future be available at over 20,000 therapy planning stations around the world.

Development of the interactive multi-criterion radiation therapy planning system earned the Fraunhofer researchers Karl-Heinz Küfer, Michael Bortz, Alexander Scherrer, Philipp Süss and Katrin Teichert and their research partners Thomas Bortfeld, Jürgen Debus, Wolfgang Schlegel and Christian Thieke the Stifterverband for German Science‘s 2016 award. The jury specifically recognized »the broad viability of the method in treating thewidespread illness of cancer as well as the relevance to international markets.

More information can be found from Fraunhofer website by following this link.

Presentation video by Fraunhofer: Tailor-Made Radiation Therapy / Copyright Fraunhofer

Stanford engineers design a home urine test that could scan for diseases

Invented to test blood sugar in 1956, the standard dipstick test is now a paper strip with 10 square pads. Dipped in a sample, each pad changes color to screen for the presence of a different disease-indicating chemical. After waiting the appropriate amount of time, a medical professional – or, increasingly, an automated system – compares the pad shades to a color reference chart for results.

Considering the dipstick as a given, Bowden and Smith, the engineers, designed a system to overcome three main potential errors in a home test: lighting, volume control and timing.


As a color-based test, the dipstick needs consistent lighting conditions. The same color can look different depending on its background, so the engineers created a black box that covers the dipstick. Its flat, interlocking parts make it easy to mail, store and assemble. They also tackled volume control.

To fix this, the engineers designed a multi-layered system to load urine onto the dipstick. A dropper squeezes urine into a hole in the first layer, filling up a channel in the second layer and ten square holes in the third layer. When the third layer is inserted into the black box, some clever engineering ensures that a uniform volume of urine is deposited on each of the ten pads on the dipstick at just the right time.

Finally, a smartphone is placed on top of the black box with the video camera focused on the dipstick inside the box. Custom software reads video from the smartphone and controls the timing and color analysis.

To perform the test a person would load the urine and then push the third layer into the box. When the third layer hits the back of the box, it signals the phone to begin the video recording at the precise moment when the urine is deposited on the pads.

Timing is critical to the analysis. Pads have readout times ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Once the two minutes are up, the person can transfer the recording to a software program on their computer. For each pad, it pulls out the frames from the correct time and reads out the results.

Detailed coverage can be found from Stanford website following this link.

FDA Approves MRI Spinal Cord Stimulator from Boston Scientific

Boston Scientific announced the launch of the Precision Montage MRI Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS) System after receiving approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Precision Montage System offers customized relief to patients with chronic pain while also enabling safe access to full body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a 1.5 Tesla environment when conditions of use are met.

More than 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, which can have a devastating impact on quality of life. Patients with pain sometimes experience a fluctuation in location, type and intensity of pain throughout the day or over time. The Precision Montage MRI SCS System allows patients to undergo a full-body MRI while benefiting from the pain relief of MultiWave Technology. MultiWave Technology enables delivery of multiple waveforms, including burst and higher rates, intended to help respond to changes in pain over time. In an analysis of registry information from 800 patients, it was determined that 72 percent used multiple waveforms to customize their therapy and optimize pain relief.

A press release can be found from Boston Scientific website by following this link.

FDA Approves Stand-alone 3D Screening With Siemens Tomosynthesis Platform

Siemens Healthineers has announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of 3D-only screening mammography utilizing the company’s Mammomat Inspiration with Tomosynthesis Option digital mammography system. The Siemens system is the first and only 3D digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) platform to be approved by the FDA as a stand-alone screening and diagnostic system; all other mammography systems on the market require a combination of 2D and 3D examinations.

FDA approval of the 3D-only application follows a pivotal reader study in which participating radiologists demonstrated their ability to increase cancer detection at a lower radiation dose than combined 2D and DBT. In the study, radiologists decreased average recall rates by an average of 19 percent without the need for a 2D image.

“Siemens is proud to announce the availability of 3D-only screening with our Mammomat Inspiration with Tomosynthesis Option digital mammography system,” said Martin Silverman, Vice President of X-ray Products at Siemens Healthineers. “Although this is the first breast tomosynthesis solution on the market to demonstrate statistically superior results to 2D as a stand-alone breast exam, we know many providers will continue using 3D tomosynthesis as an adjunct to 2D screenings. Those providers who use our platform, however, will do so with confidence, knowing our 3D is a proven stand-alone option.”

Siemens’ Tomosynthesis Only Option is available on the company’s Mammomat Inspiration and Mammomat Inspiration Prime Edition digital mammography systems.

Johnson & Johnson and HP to Enhance 3D Printing Technologies

Johnson & Johnson announced a collaboration between Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. and a subsidiary of HP Inc. The collaboration is focused on using 3D printing technologies to create better health care outcomes at reduced costs. Working together, the companies plan to combine their scientific, clinical, material science and technological expertise, and deep insights to develop products and solutions which can be manufactured quickly and customized to the needs of an individual patient or consumer.

In the near-term, the collaboration will focus on personalization of instrumentation and software for patient-specific healthcare devices. It is anticipated that 3D printing technology will lead to innovation in areas such as orthopaedics, eye health and consumer products, among others.

“The intersection of technology and health care is spurring innovation that will have a profound impact on patients and consumers all over the world,” said Sandra Peterson, Group Worldwide Chairman, Johnson & Johnson. “Combined with advances in data mining and software, 3D printing could enable distributed manufacturing models and patient-specific products, therapies and solutions that deliver better outcomes, better economics and improved global accessibility. This collaboration with HP Inc. exemplifies our commitment to harnessing new technology to improve outcomes and reduce costs across the health continuum.”

“Advances in 3D printing technology have the potential to break historical paradigms of health care delivery in ways that are not feasible in traditional manufacturing processes,” said Stephen Nigro, president of HP’s 3D printing business. “Together with Johnson & Johnson we have the potential to create opportunities and innovations in health care to improve patients’ lives that neither company could develop alone.”

A press release can be found from J & J website following this link.

Siemens enters field of molecular services for oncology

Siemens Healthineers has expanded its diagnostics portfolio with the acquisition of NEO New Oncology AG, Cologne, Germany. The company's cancer genome diagnostic platform NEO(1) will support pathologists and oncologists with comprehensive molecular information to help select targeted cancer therapies. NEO New Oncology is developing molecular profiling assays based on NGS (Next Generation Sequencing), both for tissue specimens and body liquids. This includes NEOliquid, a liquid biopsy test for the analysis of genomic profiles of solid tumors from a simple blood sample. NEO New Oncology's high quality 3rd generation hybrid capture technology allows for the analysis of circulating tumor DNA with high accuracy.

The acquisition of NEO New Oncology provides Siemens Healthineers an entry point into NGS-based genomic testing and expands its capabilities in precision medicine and companion diagnostics. Furthermore, Siemens Healthineers establishes a business prospect in the field of molecular services, with the plan to provide testing and enablement services to physicians, hospitals and laboratories, including access to the latest medical knowledge and technologies.

A press release can be found from Siemens website by following this link.

Artificial Placenta Holds Promise for Extremely Premature Infants

Researchers at the University of Michigan are working to improve survival rates in the tiniest, most premature babies in a groundbreaking way: through an artificial placenta that mimics the womb.

The technology hasn’t reached a clinical trial, but researchers from U-M’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Extracorporeal Circulation Research Laboratory are making dramatic progress. An extracorporeal artificial placenta at the institution has kept five extremely premature lambs alive for a week. The lambs were transferred to the artificial placenta, which utilizes extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), without ever taking their first breath.

The ultimate goal of nearly a decade of sustained work: for an artificial placenta to help extremely premature babies with the greatest risks of disability or death continue critical organ development outside of their mother’s womb.

Despite significant advances in the treatment of prematurity, the risk of death and long-term disability remains high for extremely premature infants (born before 24 weeks). Their bodies simply are not prepared for life outside the womb.

“One of the gravest risks for extremely premature babies is undeveloped lungs that are too fragile to handle even the gentlest ventilation techniques,” says George Mychaliska, M.D., the principal investigator and the director of U-M’s Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Center. “If a baby’s lungs are severely immature, they cannot provide the brain, heart and other organs the oxygen they need to survive.”

Mychaliska, who has been referred to as Michigan’s “fetus fixer” for his renowned fetal intervention work, has been leading research to improve outcomes for premature infants.

“We thought, ‘Why don’t we solve the problem of prematurity by re-creating the intrauterine environment?’” he says. “Maybe we should treat this tiny baby like a fetus. Maybe we should treat these babies as if they are still in the womb. This is a complete paradigm shift. Our research is still in a very preliminary stage, but we’ve passed a significant milestone that gives us promise of revolutionizing the treatment of prematurity.

“Although many of our current therapies are lifesaving, they are not designed for premature babies and are often ineffective or contribute to complications,” he adds.

The innovative artificial placenta simulates the intrauterine environment and provides gas exchange without mechanical ventilation. By recapitulating normal fetal physiology to re-create the intrauterine environment, the artificial placenta holds the promise of normal growth and development outside the womb for extremely premature infants until they are ready for postnatal life.

The success of keeping lambs alive through this technique was a crucial milestone in securing a $2.7 million R01 National Institutes of Health grant to accelerate this research.

More information can be found from the University of Michigan Health System website by follwoing this link.

Bioness launched new therapy system

Bioness announced the second generation release of the Bioness Integrated Therapy System (BITS).

BITS is a multi-disciplinary, software-based therapy solution designed to motivate patients and improve clinician efficiency. BITS’ interactive touchscreen and diverse program options challenge patients to improve performance through the use of visual motor activities, visual and auditory processing, cognitive skills, and endurance training. Standardized assessments and progress reports make documenting outcomes quick and easy. BITS integrates software and hardware with an interactive touchscreen display (48” or 55”), portable wheelchair accessible stand, and a conveniently mounted mini PC with the BITS software application, including five therapy categories, 24 unique programs and four standardized assessments.

BITS 2.0 is designed to address the changing dynamics of the rehabilitation market by improving clinician efficiency with automated progress reports, personalized therapy programs and standardized outcome measures. The new BITS Reports Module calculates key performance metrics and makes generating insightful progress reports easier than ever before. An expanded range of multi-disciplinary programs ensures high clinical utility for Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech Language Pathology as well as Athletic Training. Additionally, BITS makes it easy to establish a level of therapeutic challenge that is ‘just right’ for each individual, making it appropriate for a broad range of clients who present with unique clinical presentations.



“BITS 2.0 is a pioneering platform as it is the first product to deliver rehabilitative programs that simultaneously address the clinical goals of occupational, physical and speech therapy,” said Todd Cushman, Bioness President & CEO. “By developing this entirely new software architecture, we built a robust platform to integrate the entire Bioness product portfolio which will deliver on our promise to improve clinician efficiency and patient outcomes.”

Bioness has been the industry leader supporting the efforts of skilled acute and outpatient practices for more than a decade. As a sign of that leadership position, all existing customers who acquired the first generation of BITS will be upgraded complimentary to the new platform.

“We are committed to rehabilitation and enthusiastic to make BITS 2.0 available to all of the healthcare professionals who work tirelessly to restore function and independence to those impacted by physical and cognitive impairments,” concluded Mr. Cushman.

Product information can be found from Bioness website by following this link.

Helmet-based ventilation is better than face mask for respiratory distress patients

A new study shows that using a transparent air-tight helmet instead of a face mask helps critically ill patients breathe better and can prevent them from needing a ventilator. Patients with helmet ventilation also spent less time in the intensive care unit and had better survival.

The study followed 83 patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a severe, often lethal, injury to the lungs. ARDS causes fluid to accumulate in the lungs’ microscopic air sacs. It can lead to partial collapse of the lungs, dangerously low blood-oxygen levels and death.



The subjects in this study all required mechanical breathing assistance. They were randomly assigned to receive some form of noninvasive ventilation, using either a standard mask, strapped onto the face and covering the nose, mouth and chin; or the helmet, which surrounds the patient’s entire head and is sealed with a soft air-tight collar that wraps around the patient’s neck.

A primary goal of noninvasive ventilation is to prevent intubation, placement of a tube through the mouth or nose into the trachea to pump air into the lungs. Complications of endotracheal intubation are common. They include pneumonia, the need for strong sedatives, and delirium.

“In this group of critically ill patients, the helmet made a substantial difference,” said pulmonologist John P. Kress, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and senior author of the study. “The University’s data and safety monitoring board recommended that we stop the trial early because the helmet consistently demonstrated multiple advantages, particularly the reduced need to intubate patients and longer-term reduction in mortality.”

“After reviewing our data,” he added, “the board felt that it would be difficult to justify enrolling more patients in the face-mask arm of the trial, which exposed them to greater risks.”

The helmet “confers several advantages over the face mask,” the authors wrote. It is less likely to leak. This enables the care team to increase air pressure into the helmet, which helps keep the airway and lungs open and improves oxygen levels. It is also more comfortable, easier to tolerate because it doesn’t touch the face, and patients can see through it well enough to watch television, talk or read.

Patients who required the face mask for oxygenation for at least 8 hours were eligible to enroll in the study. Forty-four of the 83 patients who qualified to participate were then randomly assigned to the helmet group. The other 39 were assigned to the face-mask group.

All patients were severely ill with a 50 percent risk of requiring intubation or dying in the intensive care unit. About half of the patients had weakened immune systems from cancer or transplantation.

Patients in the helmet group, however, were three times less likely to require intubation, the study’s primary endpoint. Only 18.2 percent of those wearing a helmet required an endotracheal tube, versus 61.5 percent of those wearing a face mask. The helmet group had, on average, more ventilator-free days (28 vs 12.5).

Helmet patients were also more likely to survive. When compared at 90 days, 34 percent (15 patients) in the helmet group had died, compared to 56 percent (22 patients) in the face mask group.

Adverse trial-related events were minor. They included 3 skin ulcers for each group.

“The helmet interface has unique advantages and disadvantages,” wrote Jeremy Beitler, MD, MPH, of the University of California, San Diego, in an accompanying editorial. “Careful selection of patients is important.” This approach, he wrote, “warrants testing in a multicenter trial.”

“These findings build on a shifting paradigm where less is more in the care of critically ill patients,” said Bhakti Patel, MD, clinical instructor of medicine at the University and first author of the study. “We have chosen less sedation for more mental animation; less bed rest for more physical activity; and now we’re choosing less intubations for more noninvasive ventilation.”

More information can be found from Science Life, the online news hub for the University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences.

Silicone-based polymer temporarily tightens skin

Scientists at MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital, Living Proof, and Olivo Labs have developed a new material that can temporarily protect and tighten skin, and smooth wrinkles. With further development, it could also be used to deliver drugs to help treat skin conditions such as eczema and other types of dermatitis.



The material, a silicone-based polymer that could be applied on the skin as a thin, imperceptible coating, mimics the mechanical and elastic properties of healthy, youthful skin. In tests with human subjects, the researchers found that the material was able to reshape “eye bags” under the lower eyelids and also enhance skin hydration. This type of “second skin” could also be adapted to provide long-lasting ultraviolet protection, the researchers say.



The researchers performed several studies in humans to test the material’s safety and effectiveness. In one study, the XPL was applied to the under-eye area where “eye bags” often form as skin ages. These eye bags are caused by protrusion of the fat pad underlying the skin of the lower lid. When the material was applied, it applied a steady compressive force that tightened the skin, an effect that lasted for about 24 hours.

In another study, the XPL was applied to forearm skin to test its elasticity. When the XPL-treated skin was distended with a suction cup, it returned to its original position faster than untreated skin.

The researchers also tested the material’s ability to prevent water loss from dry skin. Two hours after application, skin treated with the novel XPL suffered much less water loss than skin treated with a high-end commercial moisturizer. Skin coated with petrolatum was as effective as XPL in tests done two hours after treatment, but after 24 hours, skin treated with XPL had retained much more water. None of the study participants reported any irritation from wearing XPL.

A press release can be found from MIT website following this link.

Device to release cancer cells for better analysis

A new device developed at the University of Michigan could provide a non-invasive way to monitor the progress of an advanced cancer treatment.

It can pick cancer cells out of a blood sample and let them go later, enabling further tests that can show whether the therapy is successfully ridding the patient of the most dangerous cancer cells.



Cells released into the bloodstream by tumors could be used to monitor cancer treatment, but they are very difficult to capture, accounting for roughly one in a billion cells, says Sunitha Nagrath, U-M assistant professor of chemical engineering.

Nagrath and her collaborators pioneered technologies for capturing these cells from blood samples. Their devices trapped the cells on chips made with graphene oxide, a single layer of carbon and oxygen atoms. But all analysis had to be done on the chip because the cells were firmly stuck.

"We could grow the cells on the chip or analyze them all together, but research has shown that cancer cells are not all the same," she said. "Hence, it is important to study cells individually, and our new device makes this possible."

The stem cell theory of cancer holds that relapses occur because chemotherapy and radiation therapy are not very effective at killing cancer stem cells, which can make up as much as 10 percent of a tumor. As a result, the cancer stem cells left behind are able to regrow the tumor or spread to other areas of the body.

New treatments in clinical trials attack the stem cells, but killing this smaller population does not immediately shrink the tumor. Doctors need a good way to monitor whether the cancer stem cells are on the decline. This may be possible through blood tests, but clinicians need to study captured cells individually, and that means removing them from the chip.

A press release can be found from University of Michigan website.

Siemens partners with Case Western to develop MR Fingerprinting

At the 24th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) in Singapore, Case Western Reserve University and Siemens Healthcare will announce an exclusive research partnership to further develop a quantitative imaging method known as Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF). Researchers at the Cleveland, Ohio, (USA) university and Siemens' developers will further refine this highly promising method of quantitative tissue analysis.



"We have been working with Siemens for over 30 years, developing and applying emerging MRI technologies, and we are excited to continue this great partnership," says Mark Griswold, PhD, professor of radiology at Case Western Reserve and program chair at this year's ISMRM. "We are very proud and excited to be the exclusive partner of Case Western Reserve University to further develop MR Fingerprinting," comments Dr. Christoph Zindel, head of the business line Magnetic Resonance at Siemens Healthcare. "The most innovative applications can only be brought to life through the collaborative efforts of industry and research," says Zindel. "The goal of MR Fingerprinting is to specifically identify and characterize individual tissues and diseases," states Griswold. "But to try to get there, we've had to rethink a lot of what we do in MRI."

MRF is an innovative, highly versatile and insightful method of measurement, intended to provide non-invasive, user- and scanner-independent quantification of tissue properties. The MRF method is designed to measure a wide range of parameters simultaneously, quantifying many important tissue properties.

Presently, the evaluation of MR images is generally qualitative. In doing so, the properties of the pathology are determined by observing differences in contrast between tissues, instead of being based on absolute measurements of individual tissue properties. Quantitative approaches exist, involving the measurement of diffusion, fat/iron deposits, perfusion or relaxation times, for example. But these sequences often require significant amounts of scan time, and the results vary depending on the scanner and the user. Given the potential low level of variance across a large number of examinations and its expected reproducibility across scanners and in different institutions, MRF could achieve more accurate monitoring and evaluation of patient treatment.

More information can be found from Siemens website by clicking here.

Senseonics receives CE approval to continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system

Senseonics Holdings, Inc announced it has received CE Mark approval for the Eversense Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) System.



“The CE Mark approval is a significant accomplishment for Senseonics as this application required rigorous regulatory review against high clinical and safety standards,” said Dr. Tim Goodnow, CEO and President of Senseonics. “The approval enables the company to market and sell the Eversense System in European Union (EU) member countries, and we are prepared to make this important medical device available to people with diabetes.”

The Eversense System includes an implanted glucose sensor that lasts up to 90 days, a wearable and removable smart transmitter to calculate glucose levels, and a mobile app for display of real-time glucose readings. The Eversense System is now the world’s first long-term wear sensor, which eliminates the weekly sensor insertion required by currently marketed CGM systems. The previously presented multi-center European PRECISE pivotal trial showed strong accuracy and safety results throughout the 90 day use of the Eversense CGM System.

Product details can be found from Senseonics website by clicking this link.

Early detection system for catheter infections

Urinary catheters are used in people who have difficulty passing urine naturally and are often used during or after surgery, for patients with enlarged prostates or in some cases to manage incontinence.

100 million urinary catheters are used annually across the globe, but associated infections can be experienced by up to half of patients using catheters long-term and can lead to kidney failure, septicaemia and death.



The research team led by the University of Bath and including scientists from the University of Brighton, has developed a chemical coating that can be applied to the catheter tip, which releases a coloured dye when the urine becomes alkaline due to a bacterial infection.

The prototype system gives a 12 hour warning of infections before they cause blockages, alerting healthcare professionals before an infection takes hold. This avoids the need for treating patients with antibiotics as a precaution, which can increase the worldwide problem of antibiotic resistance.

Dr Toby Jenkins, from the University of Bath’s Department of Chemistry, led the team. He explained: “Catheter infections are such a common problem that currently anyone using a catheter for more than seven days is given a course of antibiotics to prevent infection.

“The coating we’ve developed will give a 12 hour warning before an infection causes a blockage, meaning that only patients with an infection need to be treated with antibiotics.

“This system could therefore not only save lives but also reduce the threat of antibiotic resistance.”

Experiments by the researchers, using a glass bladder infection model, and published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics, show that the dye is released around 12 hours before catheter blockage by the infective bacteria (Proteus mirablis). The system therefore gives an early warning to change the catheter and treat the infection before it causes serious damage.

Scarlet Milo, Annett Charitable Trust PhD scholar at Bath and first author of the paper, added: “When an infection develops, the bacteria converts a chemical called urea in the urine into ammonia, raising the pH of the urine.



“The coating we’ve developed consists of two layers which can be used with existing catheters: the top layer is a pH sensitive polymer which dissolves if the pH rises above 8, indicating infection.

“This exposes the bottom layer of the coating, which is a gel containing a non-toxic dye which is released into the urine drainage bag, turning it bright yellow.”

The researchers are now looking to work with an industry partner to develop the prototype further.

More information can be found from Bath University website by clicking this link.

Chemists use DNA to build the world’s tiniest thermometer

Researchers at University of Montreal have created a programmable DNA thermometer that is 20,000x smaller than a human hair. This scientific advance reported this week in the journal Nano Letters may significantly aid our understanding of natural and human designed nanotechnologies by enabling to measure temperature at the nanoscale.



Over 60 years ago, researchers discovered that the DNA molecules that encode our genetic information can unfold when heated. “In recent years, biochemists also discovered that biomolecules such as proteins or RNA (a molecule similar to DNA) are employed as nanothermometers in living organisms and report temperature variation by folding or unfolding,” says senior author Prof. Alexis Vallée-Bélisle. “Inspired by those natural nanothermometers, which are typically 20,000x smaller than a human hair, we have created various DNA structures that can fold and unfold at specifically defined temperatures.”

One of the main advantages of using DNA to engineer molecular thermometers is that DNA chemistry is relatively simple and programmable. “DNA is made from four different monomer molecules called nucleotides: nucleotide A binds weakly to nucleotide T, whereas nucleotide C binds strongly to nucleotide G,” explains David Gareau, first author of the study. “Using these simple design rules we are able to create DNA structures that fold and unfold at a specifically desired temperature.” “By adding optical reporters to these DNA structures, we can therefore create 5 nm-wide thermometers that produce an easily detectable signal as a function of temperature,” adds Arnaud Desrosiers, co-author of this study.

These nanoscale thermometers open many exciting avenues in the emerging field of nanotechnology, and may even help us to better understand molecular biology. “There are still many unanswered questions in biology,” adds Prof. Vallée-Bélisle, “For example, we know that the temperature inside the human body is maintained at 37° C, but we have no idea whether there is a large temperature variation at the nanoscale inside each individual cell.” One question currently under investigation by the research team is to determine whether nanomachines and nanomotors developed by nature over millions years of evolution also overheat when functioning at high rate. “In the near future, we also envision that these DNA-based nanothermometers may be implement in electronic-based devices in order to monitor local temperature variation at the nanoscale,” concludes Prof. Vallée-Bélisle.

More information can be found by following this link.

Nanoparticles as new drug-delivery approach to hold potential for treating obesity

Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed nanoparticles that can deliver antiobesity drugs directly to fat tissue. Overweight mice treated with these nanoparticles lost 10 percent of their body weight over 25 days, without showing any negative side effects.

The drugs work by transforming white adipose tissue, which is made of fat-storing cells, into brown adipose tissue, which burns fat. The drugs also stimulate the growth of new blood vessels in fat tissue, which positively reinforces the nanoparticle targeting and aids in the white-to-brown transformation.



These drugs, which are not FDA-approved to treat obesity, are not new, but the research team developed a new way to deliver them so that they accumulate in fatty tissues, helping to avoid unwanted side effects in other parts of the body.

“The advantage here is now you have a way of targeting it to a particular area and not giving the body systemic effects. You can get the positive effects that you’d want in terms of antiobesity but not the negative ones that sometimes occur,” says Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.

More than one-third of Americans are considered to be obese, and last year obesity overtook smoking as the top preventable cause of cancer death in the United States, with 20 percent of the 600,000 cancer deaths attributed to obesity.

Langer and Omid Farokhzad, director of the Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Biomaterials at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, are the senior authors of the study, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of May 2. The paper’s lead authors are former MIT postdoc Yuan Xue and former BWH postdoc Xiaoyang Xu.

More information can be found from MIT website following this link.

FDA approves left atrial appendage MIS device from AtriCure

AtriCure announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for the AtriClip PRO2 Left Atrial Appendage (LAA) Exclusion System. The new AtriClip PRO2 system has increased functionality which enhances the capability to occlude the LAA during minimally-invasive surgical (MIS) procedures.



“We are excited to receive FDA clearance for the AtriClip PRO2 device,” said Michael Carrel, President and CEO of AtriCure. “The AtriClip franchise is the fastest growing part of our business, and we are committed to continued innovation to help our customers meet the needs of their patients. The AtriClip PRO2 system has several advancements that make it easier to use in MIS procedures.”

The AtriClip PRO2 system features an ambidextrous locking and trigger-style clip closing mechanism, handle-based active articulation levers, and a hoopless end effector. The ambidextrous locking and trigger-style clip closing mechanism allows the operator to maintain focus on the LAA while maneuvering the device. The handle-based active articulation levers allow the operator to steer the end effector without removing the device. The hoopless end effector enhances anatomical visualization, and simplifies removal of the applier after deployment of the clip.

“The AtriClip PRO2 system provides easier placement of the proven AtriClip LAA occlusion technology,” said J. Michael Smith, MD at TriHealth Heart Institute in Cincinnati. “The new deployment system facilitates less invasive treatment of the LAA, including right chest approaches in conjunction with valve replacement and cardiac ablation procedures.”

Product information can be found by following this link.

The fastest flexible silicon transistor

One secret to creating the world’s fastest silicon-based flexible transistors: a very, very tiny knife. Working in collaboration with colleagues around the country, University of Wisconsin—Madison engineers have pioneered a unique method that could allow manufacturers to easily and cheaply fabricate high-performance transistors with wireless capabilities on huge rolls of flexible plastic. The researchers — led by Zhenqiang (Jack) Ma, the Lynn H. Matthias Professor in Engineering and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in electrical and computer engineering, and research scientist Jung-Hun Seo — fabricated a transistor that operates at a record 38 gigahertz, though their simulations show it could be capable of operating at a mind-boggling 110 gigahertz. In computing, that translates to lightning-fast processor speeds. Zhenqiang (Jack) Ma It’s also very useful in wireless applications. The transistor can transmit data or transfer power wirelessly, a capability that could unlock advances in a whole host of applications ranging from wearable electronics to sensors.

The researchers’ nanoscale fabrication method upends conventional lithographic approaches — which use light and chemicals to pattern flexible transistors — overcoming such limitations as light diffraction, imprecision that leads to short circuits of different contacts, and the need to fabricate the circuitry in multiple passes. Using low-temperature processes, Ma, Seo and their colleagues patterned the circuitry on their flexible transistor — single-crystalline silicon ultimately placed on a polyethylene terephthalate (more commonly known as PET) substrate — drawing on a simple, low-cost process called nanoimprint lithography. In a method called selective doping, researchers introduce impurities into materials in precise locations to enhance their properties — in this case, electrical conductivity. But sometimes the dopant merges into areas of the material it shouldn’t, causing what is known as the short channel effect. However, the UW–Madison researchers took an unconventional approach: They blanketed their single crystalline silicon with a dopant, rather than selectively doping it. Then, they added a light-sensitive material, or photoresist layer, and used a technique called electron-beam lithography — which uses a focused beam of electrons to create shapes as narrow as 10 nanometers wide — on the photoresist to create a reusable mold of the nanoscale patterns they desired. They applied the mold to an ultrathin, very flexible silicon membrane to create a photoresist pattern. Then they finished with a dry-etching process — essentially, a nanoscale knife — that cut precise, nanometer-scale trenches in the silicon following the patterns in the mold, and added wide gates, which function as switches, atop the trenches.

More information can be found by following this link.

Non-invasive microwave device to monitor diabetes

A team of researchers from the School of Engineering at Cardiff University in Wales, UK have developed a wearable glucose monitor that does not require the extraction of blood.

Instead of taking measurements by pricking the skin, the device, which attaches to the body via sticky adhesives, uses microwaves to measure glucose levels, sending the resulting data to a computer or mobile app.

The team, led by Professor Adrian Porch and Dr Heungjae Choi, believe the device could make life easier for the millions of people suffering from diabetes around the world and, with the right investment, could reach the market within five years.

The project has received £1m in funding from the Wellcome Trust up to now, and has already been used in clinical trials in patients.

More information can be found by clicking this link.

Printed wearable sensors monitor movement sequences

Accessories like smart bracelets or smart watches are trending as »personal health coaches«, prompting the bearer to provide for sufficient sleep and activity or a healthy diet. Sensor-embedded textile solutions are a far more challenging and also more expensive approach. Often, function will override appearance. The new materials developed by Fraunhofer ISC might offer a cost-efficient alternative with the extra benefit of more adjustable appearance options.


      

In cooperation with Fraunhofer ISIT and with support of the project partners from the industry, the new sensor technology will be incorporated into a prototype shirt. This so-called MONI shirt will feature a number of functions but is foremost designed to monitor movement sequences. In an initial step, Fraunhofer ISC has developed novel piezoelectric polymer sensor printing pastes free from toxic solvents while Fraunhofer ISIT has provided the evaluation electronics. The next development steps are planned in close dialogue with the industry partners. They will include field tests on several types of textiles and applications, the further optimization of the electronics as well as wear and washability tests.

The sensor materials coming to use are flexible, transparent and suitable for various applications also beside of smart textiles: They register pressure and deformation and can thus serve as touch or motion sensors. Their sensitivity to temperature deviations further enables monitoring of temperature changes or non-contact interaction, e. g. as proximity sensors.

A simple screen printing process is all it takes to apply the sensor pastes onto textile fabrics or plastic films. Manufacturing encompasses two steps: First, the pattern is printed. Then, the sensors are subjected to an electric field making the piezolectric polymers align to adopt the targeted pressure sensitivity. The cost-efficient screen printing process is a definite plus when it comes to industrial use. It is the key to mass production of printed sensors on textiles.

Thanks to its transparency and flexibility, the new sensor material offers freedom of design in color and form for textiles and garments. As the sensors are much thinner than a human hair and applicable in whatever form, the wearer will hardly notice them embedded in a garment. There’s yet another benefit: the sensors do not require any power source like a battery. Instead, they harvest energy.

Smart textiles like this could be employed in health care or assisted living. In eldercare, everyday life movement sequences could be monitored and failure noticed. Additionally, it would be possible to monitor body signals of in-patients, such as temperature or breathing. This could be especially beneficial for bedridden patients or babies. Some day, even heart rate surveillance may be possible. Last but not least, functional sensor clothing could achieve cost reductions in the health care system. On top of assuming patient monitoring functions it could add to preventive health care.

In Addition to printed sensors on textiles Fraunhofer ISC shows textilintegrated pressure sensors made of silicone e. g. to measure pressure in shoes.

More information can be found from Fraunhofer ISC website by following this link.